Mexico weekly ledger., 1887-07-28
International s. s. Lessons.
THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS.

HE IEmfTATlON OF OEnU6.
Sunday. July 81, 1857. Matt. 4, I'LL.
In endeayorlng to find out what
the record of the Temptation of
Jesus teaches, IL should be borne 10
mind that Christ was as truly human
as be was divine. He was declared
to be the express image of God, up
holding all things by the word Of his
power. And yet II was also said Of
him: SHE was made little lower
than the angels; but He took on
Him the seed OF Abraham, and was
made like unto his brethren, that He
might be a merciful and faithful
High Priest in all things pertaining
to God, to make reconciliation for
the sins of His people. With these
two characteristics Of Jesus always
before them, the Sunday school
teacher and the class He instructs
will be the less surprised when
Christ acts as man, and the less
astonished when His divine attri-
butes blaze forth and dazzle.
Looking at Jesus, recently dedi-
Gated by baptism to the arduous
work of Messiah, as a man con-
scious OF need of constant help from
God. nothing extraordinary will be
seen in His immediate resort to pri-
vate worship and communion with
the Father. Fasting was of divine
appointment, and was designed to
train the soul in spirituality and love.
At first it was observed with great
strictness. The synsgogues were
vocal with the sounds of supplication
and grief. The bodies of those that
tasted were clothed in sack cloth,
their heads, in place of being an
nointed, were sprinkled with ashes,
their feet were not shod, and their
hands went unwashed. In the days
of Jesus however, this important
spiritual service had degenerated in
to a hypocritical ceremonial, ard
therefore Christ said to his disciples !:
"When ye fast be not as the hypo-
critics of sad countenance, for they
disfgure their faces that they may
appear to men to fast. Verify I say
unto you. they have their reward.
But thou when thou fastest annoint
thy head and wash thy face that thou
appear not unto men to fast, but un-
to thy father, which is in secret and
thy Father, which seeth thee in Sc
cret shall reward thee openly" In
the absence of detailed information
concerning Christ's fasting, no mis-
take is likely to be made in con-
cluding and teaching that Jesus prac-
ticed what be afterwards taught.
Certainlyit would be great mis-
take to see in Christ's long fast in
the wilderness, an exhibition of su.
perhuman endurance, since Moses
while engaged in effort to reconcile
God with Israel also tasted forty
days and nights, and such an exhi.
bition would have been inconsistent
with his subsequent change in the
form of the ceremonial and his sug.
gestion that fasting was designed for
God. But while the man Christ
sought opportunity for private inter
course with God the record states
distinctly that the Messiah was led
by the Spirit into the wilderness to
have conflict with the powers ol
the Kingdom of darkness. The &C.
count of the Temptation of Jesus is
short but not meagre, and upon
minute examination will be found to
he brief compendium of the resis.
tanee afterwards made to Christ
and the setting up and extension
of His Kingdom. Jesus was first
interrupted during worship Uuke Az
and afterwards, when hungry, taunt'
ingly asked for sign: ''If thou be
the son of God" said the tempter
command that these stones be made
bread. Up to this point Jesus was
led of the Holy Ghost; but now the
devil is said to have taken and sci
him upon pinnacle of the temple in
view of the whole of Jerusalem ano
to have said to him publicly, 'I
thou be the son of God cast thyseli
down; fer it is written, he shall give
his angels charge concerning thee and
in their hands shall they bear thee up
lest at any time thou dash thy foot
against stone. Seeing however, thai
Christ could not be induced to make
an inscrsptural or forbidden use o.
Ills powers the devil changes his tao
tics, takes him off to high noun
tain aud makes Jesus a proposition
which even his satanic majesty If ht
could have foreseen the result, would
have scarcely submitted publicly
The record runs thus: Again ths
devil taketh him up into an exceed
ing high mountain and show
eth Him the glory of them, ant
saith unto him, all these viii
| give thee, if thou wilt fal
down and worship me. Then saiti
Jesus unto him, "Get thee hence
Satan, for it is written, thou shall
worship the Lord thy God and hin
only shalt thou serve" Then the
devil, utterly foiled, leaveth him ant
ionryeia faua and al mi nal ared tn him